what does the ask rate flag do for poclbm? and what should I set it to?

it's how often the miner should ask the server for new work. and you should set it to whatever your mining pool advises or just leave it at the default (which is 5 seconds, iirc) if solo mining or if your pool doesn't specify.

what does the ask rate flag do for poclbm? and what should I set it to?

it's how often the miner should ask the server for new work. and you should set it to whatever your mining pool advises or just leave it at the default (which is 5 seconds, iirc) if solo mining or if your pool doesn't specify.